Meeting the Challenge: Securing Contraceptive Supplies
January 1, 2001Securing Supplies for Reproductive Health
The Programme of Action adopted at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in 1994 establishes the right of men and women to be informed about their reproductive choices and health, and to have access to the information and services that make good health possible. The Programme of Action mandates access to a range of reproductive health care services, including health education, information and counseling on sexuality and reproductive health issues—including parenting, family planning, prenatal care, delivery, and postpartum care, abortion (where not against the law) and post-abortion care—and the prevention and treatment of reproductive tract infections, sexually transmitted diseases and infertility.
A Crisis in the Making
Given the anticipated increases in demand for such services over the next few decades, large supplies of contraceptives and “other commodities essential to reproductive health programmes” will be needed in order to meet the ICPD’s challenging programmatic objectives. In the case of contraceptives alone, in fact, the gap between the need for donated contraceptive supplies and the funding available for purchasing these supplies is projected to reach hundreds of millions of dollars by 2015. A potential shortage of such magnitude could stall or reverse progress toward the reproductive health goals set by 179 nations in Cairo.
Working Towards Solutions
To address these issues, representatives from donor countries, developing countries, and a variety of government and nongovernmental organizations have come together in Istanbul, Turkey. The meeting, entitled 'Meeting the Challenge: Contraceptives • Condoms for HIV/AIDS Prevention,' was organized by the Interim Working Group (IWG - see box at left) in the hope of bringing stakeholders together to seek solutions to the looming contraceptive supply crisis.
For further information on reproductive health commodity security and the Istanbul meeting, please see www.nostockouts.org
